Give a girl a camera...............

All images by Jasmin, age 12.
Words by grandma, age, not telling!!!!

I know I've mentioned before how handing a child a camera can be very exciting. On a long road trip such as our recent one in the West, traveling granddaughter, Jasmin, made good use of her point and shoot digital.

Like all kids today, technology comes easily to her. I spend endless minutes trying to figure out the intricacies of color change, color accent, what have you, and by then the image I longed to catch is ten miles back along the road!

On returning home and editing the hundreds of pics taken, I discovered that Jasmin photographed the long, straight roads, and often sameness of the passing landscape, not only with blurred images of fields and mountains, but also with these...............back seat self portraits!

She may be young and full of fun. Sometimes listening to music and singing. Sometimes she's serious. But give her a camera and she's off and running, capturing amazing images in the blink of an eye..............and you never know what color that eye may be!

Above shows the natural color of Jasmin's pretty eyes.

This reminds me of a layout you might see in Vogue magazine!

I would suggest you give your child, or grandchild, a camera when traveling a long distance by car. Not only will they escape possible boredom, they may surprise you with their creativity........and then agree to share their secrets, and the ins and outs of those hi-tech cameras!

Pink Saturday in Northern California

On my way North to stay with our oldest, dearest friends at their beautiful lakeside Summer home on Lake Almanor, I also visited with other friends. These lovely people are fairly new on my friendship list having met them through blogging!

As I mentioned in my last post, in the small farming town of Willows, on a near 100 degree afternoon, I was thrilled to meet Corey Amaro's lovely mother Delores. Many of you already follow Corey's exciting life in Provence through her well known blog Tongue in Cheek, and you may have have read her articles published in Romantic Homes and other national magazines. I met Corey in France last October. When she knew I would pass through Willows, her home town, she told me about her mom's shop and we planned a quick stop there.

Delightful Delores Amaro outside her fabulous shop,

Gathering Better Junque - Willows, California.

Pink French toile pillows with those lovely wide floppy edges.

The shop was fabulous. Be sure to stop by if you are ever in the vicinity. Delores and her business partner Holly had done a marvelous job decorating and displaying their many treasures. Now I know where Corey's fabulous decorating gene came from, her mom of course!

Lots of pink signs in the pretty outside patio area.

I absolutely fell for this really old, really palest pink, vintage bread box.

I purchased a few treasures to take to my friend for her lake house. The gift I received for myself was Delores' very kind invitation to stop by her adorable farm house and meet her special grandchildren - more later on that!

Hope everyone has a fabulous Pink Saturday. Be sure to visit Beverly, our hostess, at How Sweet The Sound to see more pink from around the world.

"Gathering" Treasures - Part I

Sometimes friendships start in odd ways. Meeting a special woman in France last Fall, led to a brief, but most enjoyable meeting with her wonderful mother in a small Northern California farming town.

Heading toward Lake Almanor to spend a few days with friends, we were able to stop here. DH, Jasmin and I waited at Delores Amaro's fabulous shop on the main street of Willows, CA. Being a Monday the shop is usually closed, however Corey of Tongue In Cheek arranged for her mom to open it for us.

Delores and her partner Holly have treasures and then some! Really great stuff, antiques, vintage, rustic, and some new items mixed in, all attractively displayed making one want to hire a truck right there and then and haul much of it home!

I loved the painting of the Granny Smith apples.

These silver ladles looked like something Corey herself would use in her beautiful home in Provence.

Next time we'll step outside into Gathering's pretty garden area, and I'll share our unexpected visit to the charming Amaro farm.

Pacific Ring of Fire - Lassen Peak, and a day in the great outdoors...

Lassen Peak is one of many active, dormant, or extinct volcanoes found around the Pacific Ocean in a Ring of Fire. It formed 27,000 years ago as a volcanic vent on Brokeoff Volcano's northern flank. It is one of the world's largest plug dome volcanoes, rising to an elevation of 10,457 feet. Lassen's last eruption was May 22, 1915 when the peak blew a huge, mushroom-shaped cloud of ash over 30,000 feet into the air and profoundly altered the surrounding area. Congress made this area a national park in 1916.

Mt. Lassen seen from Lake Almanor, Northern California.

As a child I had a pen pal in Vancouver BC, Canada. The main thing that has stuck in my memory all these years, was a statement she made about Vancouver's great outdoor life. She was boating in the warm sunshine in the morning, then mountain climbing and throwing snowballs in the afternoon!

Living on the English Channel I had the water but was far from any mountains. Her description of playing in water and snow made an indelible impression on me and I thought, "I'm going to do that one day".


Jasmin and new friend
Anabel boating early morning on Lake Almanor.

We loved the water and spent a lot of time admiring the beautiful mountains surrounding the lake.


Looking down on Lake Helen from the road's highest point, 8,512 feet.

Come lunchtime, sandwiches were packed and we were off driving up Mt. Lassen (about a 45 in. drive), passing steaming sulphur springs, wildflowers and lakes.

Stopping at the tree line, we set up a picnic and sat looking out toward Lake Almanor in the distance. It was hot, very few tourists, and a spectacular view.

Jasmin found volcanic rocks hard to roll, this one was certainly no pushover.......

Mama deer and her babies eyed us cautiously..........

.............and yes, there was snow at the tree line so we were able to make snowballs..........

......................and cool our hot feet!

On the way down we stopped at Emerald Lake, the prettiest lake and definitely green.

That same evening, as the sun went down, Jasmin took advantage of the water again, kayaking, riding the wave runner with our hostess.......my wonderful longtime friend Paula.........

.......and trampoline bouncing with Anabel. I have my doubts that Camp Kanata was ever this much fun!

A long, busy day.........a very long post........but a day to remember for sure.

Touch of Gold

Out in the West one often finds a bright spot around the bends in the long dusty roads. Sometimes, after looking endlessly at the map, hoping for a place to take a break, you come across a place where history is commemorated.

While continuing through Utah, the Golden Spike National Historic Site at Promontory Point was another stop we found very interesting.

We arrived in the heavy heat of late afternoon, just in time to view part of the last showing of an informative video in the Visitor Center. Then, watching the demonstration of the Jupiter steam engine before she shunted off to her nightly rest in a round house hidden in the landscape, we sensed how this important day must have been................May 10, 1869.



Spanning a Continent...............................

By the time America's first small railroads were operating in the 1830's, people envisioned transcontinental travel by rail. The Central Pacific railroad from the West and Union Pacific from the East employed 8,000-10,000 men to build the railroad across the country. Irish, Italian, German, ex-slaves, American Indians and Chinese workers were a volatile mix in the "Hell-on-Wheels" towns thrown up near the base camps.
Congress finally declared the meeting place of the two railroad tracks to be Promontory Summit, Utah, and two locomotives - Central Pacific's Jupiter and Union Pacific's No. 119 - pulled up to the one rail gap left in the track on May 10, 1869. With much ceremony, a golden spike was symbolically tapped and the final iron spike was driven to connect the railroads.

The Central Pacific laid 690 miles of track, the Union Pacific 1,086. They had crossed 1,776 miles of desert, rivers and mountains to bind together East and West.

Jasmin and the Golden Spike.


The railroads tied the West to the eastern states. They altered the very pace of life. Politics and the economy were forever changed. Travel into the West became safe and comfortable, visitors from the eastern states and Europe toured the New America.

Have you taken a train across America? Do you prefer trains to planes?